Tag: Student Motivation

Prep-Once Activities

Bust worksheets and lectures with these activities you can reuse many times over. We’ve all experienced it—you look up from your lesson to notice a virus spreading among your students. First one, then three, and before long, the whole class is overtaken. It’s a zombie virus … the virus of disengagement. But how do we

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Making a Middle School Magazine

A student-produced magazine celebrates middle level student voice. In October 2015, a team of seven editors—all eighth grade boys at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Virginia—met during lunch to compare two digital publishing platforms. They judged entries for the Cover Art Contest and debated the potential of QR codes. By mid-November, a staff of 36

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Mixing Up the Teams: All Students Deserve the Very Best

Why tracking based on ability means everyone loses. Let’s say we have two soccer teams. One is populated by all of the strongest, fastest, toughest, athletic students. These kids attend practice every day after school and work out on their own in the evenings and on the weekends. They eat healthy food and receive the

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Pick Me! Pick Me! Experimenting with Discussion Interventions

Creating a balance during classroom discussions. “Fine! Don’t call on me!” My student was obviously upset. I hadn’t called on him during the entire lesson. I wasn’t trying to be mean or purposely picking on him. I was experimenting with different lesson interventions, hoping to improve students’ speaking and listening skills in my seventh grade

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